an archangel's pride
by drade666
Summary: Michael and Lucifer have always had their differences but they're still brothers after all.


_**An archangel's pride **_

Lucifer was not only one of the most handsome archangel's in heaven but he could also be claimed as the laziest. Lucifer unlike his older brother never took life too seriously in that he'd rather lounge by a lake side under a large tree (like he was doing now) then be sorting through garrison reports. Lucifer had taught his younger siblings to behave much the same way in fact Gabriel had a unique analogy once in that he said "Life was like a giant jaw breaker and you've got all the time in the world to get to the center", which had made Lucifer laugh cause everything revolved around candy for the fledgling. Lucifer chuckled to himself as the memory flashed into his mind while he drifted in and out of sleep under the warm skies in heaven. Lucifer though was just getting into a good dream when suddenly he heard the shouting of the youngest archangel calling his name. Lucifer shot up with a start, spitting the sweet grass he had been chewing on out before looking around with a confused expression on his face. Gabriel's voice rang out again this time closer until suddenly he ran straight into Lucifer toppling them both in to the soft green grass causing Lucifer to groan as he caught the fledgling.

"Gabriel! What in the name of the clouds…?" Lucifer asked staring down at Gabriel who took a minute to regain himself.

"Luci…Luci…there's trouble," Gabriel stated in a panicked little voice as his big hazel eyes looked up at Lucifer with worry in them.

"What happened?" Lucifer asked the distressed little archangel

"It's Michael, Luci…Michael's hurt" Gabriel cried in distress

"What? How? When?" Lucifer asked now also slightly concerned

"I don't know but he was outside looking for someone then he started acting strange and then he fell" Gabriel explained in a slightly slurred way but he managed to get it all out

Lucifer was never a huge fan of his uptight brother but nonetheless he was still his brother so Lucifer stood up with Gabriel cradled in his arms and spread his 8 glorious sunburst wings. Gabriel led the way as Lucifer flew threw heaven's skies just narrowly missing several other angel's who were also flying at the time until he reached a the path that his brother had been on near the garrisons base. Lucifer spotted Michael immediately sitting just off the path with his back resting against the stonewall to the garrison base making it clear there was something wrong with him. Lucifer beat his wings forward to stop him in midair then gently lowered himself to the ground before tucking them behind his back while setting Gabriel on the ground so he could make his way over to Michael. Lucifer took a knee next to Michael who had his head resting on the wall with sweat pouring down it with shallow breaths escaping his chest. Lucifer was very concerned at this point for his brother mostly due to the fact he'd never seen Michael in such a state before so he leaned in to place a hand on Michael's shoulder, which caused him to stir.

"Michael? Are you alright?" Lucifer asked when his brother looked at him

"Yes, yes of course I was just resting for a moment" Michael declared suddenly moving to stand up but Lucifer could tell the motion was strained so he helped him only to have his hand swatted away.

"Michael, are you sure?" Lucifer pressed

"Yes, Lucifer I'm just fine now go away" Michael said trying to act normal but again Lucifer could tell he was not in good health at the moment. Lucifer did not obey his brothers command instead he followed him and it was a good thing too cause Michael only made it a couple steps when he swayed slightly then gripped the wall for balance causing Lucifer to run up beside him. Lucifer managed to grab hold of Michael before he fell but that synched it Lucifer wasn't buying this I'm tough as nails so I can't be hurt stick.

"Okay, that does it I'm taking you to the infirmary" Lucifer told Michael as he heaved one of Michael's arms around his shoulder then the other around Michael's waist before spreading his wings.

"Come on, Gabe" Lucifer told little Gabriel cause he knew the little archangel couldn't be left alone with out causing some kind of catastrophe. Gabriel followed as Lucifer flew to the far end of heaven where the archangel's "nested" so to speak but also it was next to the infirmary in the great hall where all the knowledge of the world was kept. Lucifer hauled Michael inside despite his protests against it Lucifer noticed that Michael didn't have enough strength to really deny him either. Lucifer instructed Gabriel to go to his room for the moment while he took care of Michael then he would come to him when he was finished. Gabriel nodded then took off in to the archangel's hall where all 4 archangels had their individual rooms while Lucifer limped Michael into one of the treatment rooms where he helped him sit on the treatment table. Michael leaned forward with his forearms resting on his thighs with his head bowed dripping with sweat as a pained expression etched across his face.

"Hey, stay with me okay, now what happened?" Lucifer asked cupping Michael's face in an attempt to get him to focus.

"Not today…I think it's from…the fight" Michael ground out between clenched teeth

"You don't mean the fight two weeks ago do you? I thought you said you came out unscathed?" Lucifer asked as he furrowed his brow in concern as well as confusion now.

"Yes…I lied…my wing…" Michael breathed out as his breath hitched

Lucifer moved behind Michael to get a better look at his damaged wing when he revealed them. Michael winced as he manifested his wings from their cloaked state but kept them tightly molded to his back out of instinct to protect the damaged wing. Lucifer could already see something was wrong cause blood streaks were smeared across a couple of Michael's silver feathers on the other wings so as gently as he could Lucifer began to spread his brother's wings so he could get to the damaged one. Lucifer found the damaged wing to be Michael's middle one on the left hand side but that wasn't the only problem apparently Michael hadn't tried to treat it at all resulting in an infection that had spread to his back. Lucifer could see now why Michael was in such distress but why had he left it for so long with out telling anyone? Lucifer had more questions then answers at this point however one thing was certain he needed to clean the wound up then treat it correctly. Lucifer ran off to snatch up one of the healers now that he knew what to tell them then lead them back into the room where Michael was fading fast. The healer immediately ran up to Michael after seeing him then eased him into a laying position on his side to keep his wings exposed at the back for further treatment. Lucifer pointed out the damaged wing underneath Michael's other wings that kept curling around to protect it then he pointed out the infected area on Michael's back, which got the healer into a frenzy as she immediately got a couple other healer in to the room to assist her while keeping Lucifer to the side.

Lucifer watched as Michael's wings were restrained so they could get access to the injured one with out damaging the others. Michael's wing was worse then originally thought turned out it was broken in addition to having a bad stab wound at the base that had become severely infect due to neglect. Michael winced as the group of healers got to work trying to clean then treat his badly damaged wing but every little brush was like searing hot pain that would pierce through his entire body. Lucifer hated seeing Michael's pained expressions as the healers began to clean the wound but to clean out the infection they would need to flush out the area by injecting sterilized water into the wound. Lucifer walked over to Michael's side with sadness flashing in his eyes for his brother as he wreathed from the pain but still held back his cries in a vain attempt to preserve his pride, which Lucifer knew all too well the feeling cause after all none of the other angels were nearly as prideful of as he was. Lucifer let his pride fall for a moment as he placed a comforting hand on Michael's shoulder just as the healers began to flush the infection resulting in Michael letting out a small yelp before swallowing the cry down but he buried his face in the pillow under his head while gritting his teeth. Lucifer rubbed his hand over Michael's shoulder reassuringly as Michael bit back cry after cry of pain as he tried to maintain his prideful image more then even Lucifer ever did.

"Michael, let it go" Lucifer urged his brother knowing that it wasn't going to do him any good to keep it all bottled up. Michael seemed to ignore his brother as he fisted his hands while wreathing so much that the healers had to restrain his legs but allowed Lucifer to restrain Michael's torso.

"Michael, please…please let it go" Lucifer pleaded with him as he pressed a hand to his shoulder followed by his other hand pressed to Michael's forearm.

"Lucifer…I…" Michael finally acknowledged slowly opening his eyes to look up at Lucifer.

"I know your proud but you can let go of the pride it's just me here" Lucifer assured his brother as he rubbed across the elder archangel's shoulders.

"Luci…fer…. I…can't…" Michael began but Lucifer could see his brother's defenses already crumbling as his hand suddenly came up to clutch at Lucifer's arm.

"Okay, we've cleaned the wound but now we need to realign the wing bone" one of the healers said making Michael whimper at the thought of it. Lucifer steadied his brother then nodded to the healers to begin with the procedure as the healer nodded back they positioned themselves around Michael's wing in preparation to realign the bone under the skin. The instant they started realigning the bone in Michael's wing he cried out, screaming at the tops of his lungs as they maneuvered the bone around until the edges realigned. Lucifer continued to try and comfort Michael the best he could as tears finally flowed down the eldest archangel's face while his hand clenched around Lucifer's as he panted heavily.

"Sshh, it's okay Michael they're almost done" Lucifer assured Michael as the healers began the finishing steps of healing his wing.

Lucifer stayed until Michael passed out then left to let the healers finish their work then get Michael into a recovery ward. Lucifer in the meanwhile walked down to speak with Gabriel just as he'd promised to do so. Lucifer knocked on Gabriel's door with the knuckles of his hand then got a response to enter from the little archangel who sounded a little sad. Lucifer gingerly opened the door then entered the room to see little Gabriel sitting on the edge of his bed with his hands between his thighs while he stared at his feet as they twisted in and out. Lucifer came over to sit beside Gabriel on the bed with one leg crooked on the bed while the other dangled over the edge as the little archangel crawled up into Lucifer's lap to curl into his arms.

"You okay?" Lucifer asked the little archangel

"Yeah, is Michael okay?" Gabriel asked looking up at Lucifer with worried hazel eyes that looked like they could spill over with tears any minute.

"Yeah, he'll be okay he's not feeling well but Michael will recover" Lucifer assured the little archangel that was sitting in his lap.

"Good, I knew Luci would make everything all better" Gabriel said in his little voice as he snuggled into Lucifer's chest.

Lucifer smiled down at Gabriel then cradled him in his arms until Gabe fell asleep then he tucked him in before going off to check on Michael. Lucifer talked to the healers to find out how Michael was doing as well as where they'd moved him to heal and rest so he could go see him. Lucifer walked into the ward where Michael was resting to see him so weak and fragile made Lucifer a little scared cause if this could happen to Michael it made all the more real to happen to him or Gabriel especially with his own pride. Michael had a split on his damaged wing while his other wings were restrained to keep them from hurting the damaged one. Michael shifted slightly then groaned as he slowly opened his eyes to see Lucifer standing next to him with surprise on his face.

"Michael?" Lucifer exclaimed in surprise

"Luci…fer…? Ah!" Michael exclaimed as pain shot through him.

"Easy, hey take it easy" Lucifer insisted trying to get Michael not to move too much

"What…what's going…ugh…?" Michael groaned again as his blue eyes met Lucifer's with confusion flashing behind them.

"Your in the infirmary ward recovering from damage to one of your wings" Lucifer explained holding Michael down.

"The fight…from two weeks ago…right" Michael said to himself as clarity came to his mind.

"That's right just relax or you'll cause more damage" Lucifer confirmed as he settled Michael down.

"Is Gabriel alright? I think I startled him a bit," Michael asked with true concern in his eyes.

"Yeah he's asleep and he'll be alright just worried about you" Lucifer stated with a smile

"I'm sorry Lucifer, I didn't mean to scare either of you, and I just didn't want to look weak." Michael explained with a wince of pain.

"I get it probably better then anyone" Lucifer told Michael before placing a hand on Michael's shoulder giving it a gentle couple of pats. Lucifer walked out to let Michael rest not to mention getting some rest himself and all he could hope was that he would never let his pride get that bad.


End file.
